Candidate Stephen Laliberte Meets White Bear Lake Police Chief

Lindy Crawford, our City Manager, set up a series of meeting to help me learn the details about the city government.  One of the first meetings was with our Chief of Police, Dale Hager.

I was very impressed with Dale’s experience.  He gave me a run down of the department.

There are 32 total employees.

3 SRO (School Resource Officers)

4 investigators

22 patrol (full – 18 patrol and 4 sergeants)

We are currently short 4 officers)

Captains – 2

5 community service officers CSO.  Non sworn.  Paid. 

There are ten reserve officers are not paid 10

4 front office staff.

We provide police services to Gem Lake.  Treat gem lake as part of WBL. 

The biggest challenge is recruiting new officers.

I asked Dale what % of the calls were emergency versus dealing with domestic issues.  I can’t remember the exact number.  Dale made a point that stuck with me.  People often call the police to deal with an issue they are afraid to confront.

I began to smile because I remembered the story about my son David’s graduation party.